Hang in there sunnybear, I'm pretty sure you will get yours soon!! They better!!





hmmm... wanna see my area during winter/xmas?

Santa in his swimsuit...

Xmas tree?


Hmm.. guess this is going to be one of the weirdest experiences for me so far... winter while it feels as summer with similar temperatures Can't wait

In more ways than one. CA is a beautiful place and quite temperate. When I lived in San Diego it was short sleeved shirts year round. Winter is actually the rainy season and when things are greenest in the south - but in the north I think it's green year round, very pretty. Anyway, sorry to have been off for a while, but I didn't remember my password so I couldn't chime in from work.....but I'm back......

Work is very busy and I'm trying to absorb everything that comes my way - and generally putting in 12 hour days to do so. I need to get this thing totally under control before the end of the summer and with Olga's arrival - cause I will not be a work-a-holic anymoe....promise

Back to it then.....

ive seen alot of couples with the same dates like mine who already got their approvals last week...so i hope that you got angel's breath upon saying this

seeing feb approvals?? was that from csc? that feels bad..cant deny that..ours dated January 24th..im realy hoping for an aprroval this week..im even feeling that THEY SHOULD approve our application by this week.

i cant even think of a credible reason why they jumped off to feb knowing there are january filers waiting still

For the same reason that they started January before December was done...and they started December before November was done...because there is absolutely no logic to the order they do cases in and because some cases take longer than others to process for whatever reason, whether it's background checks or divorces or kids involved...unfortunately some just take longer. All we can do is wait.

Good morning all

Hey Heather! How are you today?

Doing great! How is your day? I'm getting ready to do my daily NVC call

It's ok...shaping up to be another SLOW day in the office. We're on downtime until the baseball season really starts going again. However, this summer should be extra interesting because the station I work at is being sold. Hopefully it's a good thing for us.

Have you heard who is buying it yet? Maybe you'll get a promotion or something! I called NVC yesterday and they said they hadn't received it yet but I just talked to them and they gave me the case number and it was mailed out to the consulate today!!!!!!!!!!

Woo-hoo!! Congrats!

It's being purchased by an investment firm that is new to television...but apparently we're somehow going to be related to a large group of stations that was just purchased from the Tribune group. The guys who own each company are friends and are putting them all in cahoots or something. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll just be rolled into the Tribune Groups benefits...because they're awesome.

Hmmm...anyone notice that they changed the way estimates work on your timeline? You now get a date range instead of a single date.

That sounds promising then! Always a perk to have good benefits for sure.... Things are really moving fast now! I can't believe they received the visa then mailed it out so fast...

I'm so excited for you! I'm going to be watching you pretty closely for the next little bit...it'll be a good indicator of how long that part will take for us.

Definitely! I guess we better start getting everything together for the interview!

I'm already starting to do that! Are you getting a tax transcript or are you just going to send W-2s?

I'm not sure which I should do? Some would be joint with my ex so not sure what to do there.... My mom is going to co-sponsor too just to be on the safe side.

I've heard that transcripts are required for Vancouver...but at the speed that the IRS works, I'm not sure how quickly I can get them. I'll send at least the W-2s and if the transcript comes in time I'll send both...I haven't ordered it yet, though.

I guess I should go ahead and request them and ask my mom to do so also.... If it takes a month or so to get the interview that could be the middle of July!

Bryan received his transcripts from the IRS less than a week after he ordered them. I believe they had told him it would take 2 to 4 weeks.

Oh! Good to know Did he call, email or write to request them? Was there a fee involved?

Hey everyone yup I hope to see an approval this week or next too haha! Sure would brighten things up! Interview went good today so fingers crossed there as well! Would be a challenge which I need!

That park looks gorgeous! Ok for my wedding links........seriously one of my faves is Martha haha...
Martha Stewart Weddings
It is kind of hard to search etc but believe me wealth of ideas! I also suggest just going to librarys and getting bridal magazines from there for inspiration! She had teh cutest ideas for Wedding in the Park etc in one of her mags so hopefully she has the pics online...if you cannot find I shall search out! Basically they had it catered but it was all in brown paper bags and then they spread blankets everywhere for people to sit upon picnic style etc...it was really cute looking!
We are doing ours for under 5,000 (fingers crossed!) as we def don't have the money to go all out! I am having family be the photographers and making a lot of our own things including centerpieces, appetizers, favors, etc...basically we are paying for catering meal, the location, and dj! So we are really hoping to stay well under our budget! Oh our friend is marrying us too!

Yeah, we have fixed it... my future stepdaughter's bf will be best man and ashley, FSD, will be my maid of honor and my kids will walk with me to the altar..... but i told ricky that should be it, no more bridesmaids, groomsmen and all other fuss.

I just hope 1st week of Oct won't be too cold for an outdoor wedding.




Maybe this could help: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=110571,00.html



Good luck to everybody still waiting for NOA2!

thanks for the link sunnybear, it's one wedding site i have never checked out.

$5,000 for the wedding .. i am really hoping for a little less than that. I will be buying my dress here and also ricky's barong so I guess it will slash the wedding budget a little. It is cheaper here compared to buying in the US. We will have his cousin do the photography so it is another thing that will be free... and we wont have that many guest so I hope we could really fit everything in a less than $5,000 budget.

Our budget is about that, too. I keep seeing all these brides who are like "Wahhhh...my budget is only 25,000...how am I going to AFFORD everything." And I'm like "ummm...what?"

Somehow this cracked me up... maybe those are brides who have rich daddy paying for everything... but still $25,000 for a wedding???? I would rather spend and prepare for the life we will share AFTER the wedding than spend a fortune for just one day. But of course it is just me.

I absolutely, completely agree with that. I would rather save that $25k for ohhh...a down payment on our house or a rainy day fund. I read recently that the average wedding in the US costs around $30,000...I'm trying to figure out where all of that money even goes but then...I'm a do-it-yourself-er at heart. No reason to pay someone $10 for something I can make for $2.

I'd rather spend money on the honeymoon

I'm so excited for the honeymoon!!

I know we're doing an outdoor reception for sure with lots of grilling Lol.... We just want everyone to have a good time and nothing real formal... Then TIME ALONE!!!!

We're doing something really, really simple for our civil ceremony. Probably just the ceremony, then dinner with my family, then we'll head off for a couple of days alone. For the wedding, we're going all out...one of my friends who is a chef is catering as a wedding gift and we'll have the cake and everything.

and a big honeymoon after that. We'll spend a week in California or Hawaii...we haven't decided yet.

That sounds awesome.... So exciting to think of finally being to that point isn't it?

Yes! I can't wait to finally just be together.

Only a few more months!!! Well home time for me! Have a great evening

here's where you can check the average cost of wedding in your area and also the break down: http://www.costofwedding.com/

In Princeton, NC, Ricky's place the average cost according to that site is: This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring. for their wedding.

Well that's the average and we will just stick to way below the average.

Ricky has a problem planning the wedding but he already have the honeymoon mapped up. ... anywhere will be fine with me as long as we will be together, NO DISTURBANCE, and somebody watches over the kids back at home.

HI everyone wellll not sure if this will do anything for us or not but called USCIS today and got a really nice lady on phone! I told her how we had our wedding planned for September and how people in my online support group were already getting approved so just wanted to know if mine was even being looked at yet etc....so she took all my info including phone, addy, and email and even gave me a reference number (?) she said she was sending an email of inquiry or something to find out more about our case for me......

Soooo you think she was feeding me a line or you think this lady honestly will get in contact with whoever has our case sat upon their desk?! I cannot help but be excited but Gareth warned me not to which I know I shouldn't get my hopes up too high.....

I just want to see my mannnnn over a year is WAY too long

This past Friday, I received a Notice of Action 2 that my Petition was APPROVED and will be sent to the National Visa Center in New Hampsire where it will be forwarded in 2 to 4 weeks to Bogota, Colombia. So, by the end of June, this paperwork will arrive in Bogota, and approximately 70 days later, I'll hear something from the consulate there. THEY DIDN'T FORGET US!!!

Woo-hoo!! Congratulations!!

HOORAYYYY CONGRATS! Could you please fill out your timeline on here too so can give us all a more accurate timing Congrats again!

I will get to work on my timeline. I hadn't done anything to it since nothing appeared to be happening. So, I dropped off of VisaJourney for a few months. Now, things appear to be happening - which for us is a good thing. Thanks for the words of encouragement and support!

Hey sunny,
I'm happy to hear your update. Of course it's always good to try and stay calm and not get your hopes us, but I do think it's a good sign that someone is willing to investigate into your case. I would have done the exact same thing you did, and would have been SOOOOOO relieved to get a nice person on the other end of the line. Perhaps she won't be able to do much, or perhaps a little nudge from a co-worker will be exactly what your adjudicator needs to get things rolling.

I think about you often and so hope this will lead to some great news. Please keep us posted on what you hear from her (I know you will!).

Sending you happy thoughts!

Hey!

I'm really worried too about the NOA2. Can you tell me how did you do to call USCIS? it seems impossible to get a real person to talk to on the phone!
please, let me know!

good luck!

He called them, spent 40 minutes on the phone waiting and then asked for the tax transcripts. I don't think there was a fee involved.


Thanks for the link!
Right now I'm trying to decide if I should buy a veil or try to make one myself. it doesn't look very hard but I'm not sure if I can do it... Does anyone have tips about it? (and I'm going to look at the Martha Stewart, i'm pretty sure there must be something about how to make your own veil there!)
I'm (well, "We") also going to try to spend less than $5,000, and I'm just happy that it is going to be a good occasion to make lots of things myself that should keep me busy once I arrive to the US and I can't work

She took your phone and email and everything? I don't know much how USCIS works (well, nobody does), but this sounds very good to me. I remember someone saying that he got an personal email from the person he talked to at USCIS telling him that his case was approved. This is much better than people who only get the "you should call back in 3 months" line...
Of course, Gareth is right, you shouldn't get your hopes too high, but still, I believe this is a good thing

Count me in with the 'budget is under $5,000' people. Well, actually ours is more like $1,000. And we can't have a honeymoon.

You can do the honeymoon later. Instead of having it right after the wedding, you could do it once you get the 10 year green card, that way you celebrate everything at once, and it gives you time to save money

And now I can't concentrate on my work anymore... all I think about is weddings.

Oh rachel, I thought we would have the least budget... ours would be 1,000-2,000.. honeymoon would just be a weekend in the mountains in NC. .. and that won't be a civil wedding first, big wedding later.. that will be our BIG DAY really... renewal of vows will probably be 5years after.

Can you all imagine how we started talking about weddings january or february and here we are, wedding is becoming realized for some of the January filers and it is also inevitably getting nearer for most of us...

Yes, time really goes fast. Even though the wait can be hard sometimes, we are all almost at the end of our K1 journey. Soon, we will all be with our loved ones, and married!

The honeymoon is unfortunately not so much a question of money as Alex not being able to have any time off work. He only has 10 days off a year, and they make him book a year in advance, so when he originally thought that the wedding might be in October he booked a week off then. He also had a week off at Easter, so that is all of his holiday time used up!

Cecile, I shall definitely have a later honeymoon, although I'm not sure if I'd be able to wait until I had my ten year greencard!

dbears - I know! Yet it still feels very far away! Maybe once I've had my interview it will feel closer. I'm still not entirely sure what will happen, whether I'll be able to ship all of my belongings yet or whether I'll have to keep things in storage at my parents'. I'm considering moving out of my current house early (as my housemate's boyfriend is now a permanent guest, yet my bills haven't gone down ) and living more cheaply with another friend (it'd have to be out of my suitcase as she has no space for any of my things).

When do you plan to have the wedding? October is very feasible for you already right? how about oct 3 so we would have the same wedding date?

Yes Cez, only a few months more to go and we will be with our love ones and married:)..

we could go now since we have the visa already but waiting till september means HUGE savings on airfare so we thought, what is a few months more.... we have waited almost 3years to be together for good, I guess 2+ months won't make much difference... except on the savings